Le Metro

Paris has an amazing transportation system of subways, buses, trains, bikes and trams. It's never difficult to get from one place to another. The problem is that you have to share the space with strangers.

I think that anyone who has been to Korea will agree that Koreans are pushy. Everyone is trying to get somewhere first. The kids push each other in the halls to be the first in the classroom. Old Korean ladies plow down anyone who stands between them and the bus. However, they never meant any harm. If I were to smile at a Korean most of the time they'd smile back and bow.

Paris is a whole other story. Everyone is pushy here, but the difference is that they seem to be angry with everyone around them. If you smile at them they scowl back at you. Try to get from one station to another underground and you'll be practically run over. They have this word that excuses themselves from everything. "pardon" They say it as often as they inhale. It loses it's meaning. Don't cut me off in the first place. Don't push me off the train, just wait your turn. If you don't think of yourself before anyone else then you won't have to say "pardon" every other word!

The other night I was so annoyed with this that I decided to just do as the French do. A french girl and I were both going for the same turn-style exit but I sped up and got there before she could. oooh she was not happy. She chased after me and yelled at me to excuse myself. I told her in French that the French are always pushing and leaving no room for anyone to go before them and that I was tired of it. That made her even more upset. And then I smiled at her. She stormed off and was clearly talking about me with her boyfriend. Saying "pardon" doesn't make it ok. Just don't do it to begin with. I'm not going to make it a habit of pushing people just because I'm living in Paris for a while. I think I'll keep my good old Canadian manners thank you very much.

That same night when I got on the train I decided to sit near the end of it where there were less people I was tired of being around hoards of people. Since it was late there weren't many people in my car. There was me and one other woman facing the same direction. In between the cars there are doors so we can walk from car to car. There is about a foot and a half between each car. There are frosted windows on these doors. Eventually I looked up to see two blurry figures behind the frosted glass in between the cars. It took me a minute to realize that they were...um...going at it! I looked over at the woman to see if she was seeing the same thing that I was seeing. She was. There was a look of shock and disgust on her face. She found it so hard to believe that people would do it in the public transportation! I found it hard to believe that they'd do it where it's so dirty, and disgusting.

The metro has and always will be a place where the craziest things happen. Whenever I'm surprised by something I see there I have to remind myself of the things that Abbie and I had encountered when we were studying here.

-men "touching" themselves
-men touching us/our friends
-a man with a huge gnash across his forehead bleeding like crazy, laying in the middle of the walkway
-too many suicides to count
-feces smeared all over metro seats
-gypsies with babies sticking their hands under your nose for money.
-pickpockets

The funny thing is that despite how terrible it sounds I'm so thankful that it's there. I guess it makes the everyday life a little more interesting.